Help with articulating Pit Droid 12 inch figure Ep1 ASST. NO. 26227

[TheBlackVeilArt]

I'm wanting to add better articulation and a few other upgrades to my Pit Droids. I've had these for a very long time, and have always hated how bad the articulation on them is. I'm not looking to keep these two in any kind of screen accuracy but instead just want to be able to put them in fun poses as well as add some much needed durability to the joints. I had considered armature joints but I don't know that I have the skill to bond them to plastic in any real way.

Any help is greatly appreciated and I apologize if this is the incorrect forum or outside of the site etiquette.

 

[Millenniumf]

I've actually pondered this very thing. If it were me, what I'd do is first drill a hole in the exact center of the hinge to accommodate a future nut and bolt. Then I'd use a razor blade to carefully cut the joints at the edges of the silver rings. I emphasize CAREFULLY, as in very low-pressure swipes with an eXacto knife, and switching the blades frequently as the tips get dull. I would also keep in mind which end has the center disk of the join and which one has the outer covers, in order to make sure they stayed intact. It would take a couple of hours I estimate, but this would create all the hinge-type joints. For ball-and-socket joints like on the hips, you might need to separate the parts cleanly and then gluing a wire into them, or if they're big enough you could try Lego Mixel joints. Anyway, after the hinges are separated, reattach them using small nuts and bolts with a little bit of threadlock on them to keep them from backing out once they reach the correct amount of tension. Use the lowest strength of threadlock so you can break it later if you need to.

Note that this will probably be a really tedious task, but as you don't want to use armature joints, this is the best course of action in my opinion. I've done a few mods to model kit parts using this method to add articulation, so I know it works, but it might result in a weak joint if you're not careful with how you cut them apart.

 

[TheBlackVeilArt]

I've actually pondered this very thing. If it were me, what I'd do is first drill a hole in the exact center of the hinge to accommodate a future nut and bolt. Then I'd use a razor blade to carefully cut the joints at the edges of the silver rings. I emphasize CAREFULLY, as in very low-pressure swipes with an eXacto knife, and switching the blades frequently as the tips get dull. I would also keep in mind which end has the center disk of the join and which one has the outer covers, in order to make sure they stayed intact. It would take a couple of hours I estimate, but this would create all the hinge-type joints. For ball-and-socket joints like on the hips, you might need to separate the parts cleanly and then gluing a wire into them, or if they're big enough you could try Lego Mixel joints. Anyway, after the hinges are separated, reattach them using small nuts and bolts with a little bit of threadlock on them to keep them from backing out once they reach the correct amount of tension. Use the lowest strength of threadlock so you can break it later if you need to.

Note that this will probably be a really tedious task, but as you don't want to use armature joints, this is the best course of action in my opinion. I've done a few mods to model kit parts using this method to add articulation, so I know it works, but it might result in a weak joint if you're not careful with how you cut them apart.

I'll take all of this into account as I move forward thank you so much for the reply. I'll look into the mixel joints right now.

 

[TheBlackVeilArt]

So, I figured a good path to move forward might be to start taking the droid apart and starting with the brown droid that is already broken a bit and bent in a few places from storage. Should everything work out with it, I'll move on to the white droid after I'm done.

This is my approach to the head, I also wanted to see if there were possible space for installing simple electronics. I think I could easily work in a light here.

 

[TheBlackVeilArt]

Continuing on, I've realized that the Mixel joints won't work for me in a way that I would like. I'm going to just buckle down and save for the armature parts for joints. Until then I will continue to take the droid apart and plan the rebuild accordingly.